April 2012 Newsletter

Worship Services

Veritas

6:00 P.M. Saturday

Sunday Services

9:00 and 10:45A.M. Sunday

www.CedarStreetChurch.org

Saturday Saturday Saturday Saturday

6:00 P.M.

Sunday Sunday Sunday Sunday

9:00&10:45 A.M.

Who are you inviting?

LifeGroup Calendar

SALT & SALT II

Wednesday, April 4 @ 8:08 P.M.

and

Saturday, April 14 @ 9 A.M.

Mentor Meeting

Wednesday, April 25

@ 8:08 P.M.

Discipleship Calendar

The Revelation—Part II Chapters 4,5

Teacher: Pastor Bryan

Wednesdays

April 4, 18, 25 @ 7:00 P.M.

Mosaic—Part I

Wednesdays @ 7:00 P.M.

8 Weeks

May 2 – June 20

What is Mosaic? Have you ever wondered how the early Church went from Apostles to

Popes? Have you ever wondered about the legitimacy of monks and

nuns in the Church? Have you ever wondered what life was like for a

Christian in the “Dark Ages?”

If you have ever had any of these questions or ones similar then the Mosaic

class is just for you. Join us on Wednesday, May 2 for the beginning of a class designed to educate

and equip God’s Church so that She does not repeat the mistakes of the past. Each week shall be

organized around a passage of Scripture and an event or events in the life of God’s Church. We shall

begin our journey in the early 100’s A.D. and complete our journey at the dawn of the Protestant

Reformation.

Please consider setting aside this time in your schedule for discipleship. As a reminder, you need not

worry about your children or youth, as Pastor Dave and Mary Currie have Bible teaching, games, and

activities set aside for them while you grow in your knowledge and passion for Jesus Christ.

Bryan Kent

Associate Pastor to

Adults

MMMMosaic: God’s Church through the ages

Part I— The New Testament through the Catholic Age Teacher: Pastor Bryan Mosaics are large pictures created through the assemblage of smaller materials such as glass, stone, or metal. God’s mosaic is

His Church. He has crafted one master picture of His glory through the ages through the local Church, individual lives, and

His hand in world events. Join this class to learn more about God’s Church from the New Testament through the Catholic

age.

Wednesdays @ 7:00 P.M. 8 Weeks May 2–June 20

Location: Bambi Lake Conference Center

Ages: Students who have completed grades 7-12

Dates: June 18-22, 2012

Cost: $175.00

Cedar Street Church Night at Spartan Speedway!

♦ Friday, July 13

♦ Gates open at 5:00 P.M.

♦ Racing Starts at 7:30 P.M.

♦ $10.00 a ticket.

We will be cleaning out the Lost-And-Found box (located near the Cedar Chapel) on April 30. Please stop and see if anything inside belongs to you. All unclaimed items will be donated to Goodwill or thrown away.

Dave Bauer

Associate Pastor for Students

Mary Currie

Children’s Minister

Resurrection Weekend is one of our favorite times of year around the Church house. Many people come to Church services only once or twice a year and this is one of them (the other is Christmas). Our Sunday School teachers are prepared with the Gospel message and ready to talk to your child about how to become a Christian. Take this opportunity to invite your friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members to come worship with you this Easter. It might change their lives for eternity!

As I type, I have the windows open and am listening to the birds. I am thankful for the “newness”

of Spring! I love seeing the leaves bud on the trees, the spring bulbs pop out of the ground, and the birds and animals creating homes for their new families. Take a moment to thank God for the “newness” of His grace and mercy also. Lamentations 3:22-23 says: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” We get a fresh start every morning no matter how bad yesterday was. Wake up with a song in your heart and put His Words in your head first thing. How exciting that we serve a God Who can make everything new!

Upcoming events:Upcoming events:Upcoming events:Upcoming events:

April 8 (Sunday) Resurrection Sunday–no evening activities

May 13 (Sunday) Mother’s Day–no evening activities

May 19 (Saturday) Evangelism Training for all Children’s Workers (and anyone who’d like to attend)

May 20 (Sunday) TeamKID Awards Night

We hope that you are praying for allallallall of our ministries on a regular basis but sometimes we

feel a need to create a team to pray for specific things. We’d like to introduce our MAX Camp Prayer Team. We are excited about this opportunity and know God will use it-and you-to further His Kingdom. Please contact Jenni Crouse if you have questions, to let her know you’d like to be on the team, or sign-up after Worship Services anytime in the next three weeks. We’ll have someone at a table in the back to help you get your name on our list!!

Jeff Johnson

Associate Pastor for Life Care

[email protected]

Carrie’s battle with pancreatic cancer has ended, however I

plan to continue the CaringBridge blog for another year. I

intend to write about my journey including my thoughts,

truths that God may teach, and my Grief process. Thank you

for your continued prayers and generosity. You may follow

our journey at www.caringbridge.org/visit/carriejohnson.

The Corps of Discovery Expedition was

commissioned by President Jefferson in the spring

of 1803. Meriwether Lewis was selected to lead

the corps. One of his first acts was to enlist

William Clark and to elevate him to the position

of co-leader on the journey. After selecting the

rest of the crew, the adventure began just north of

St. Louis, Missouri on May 14, 1804 in hopes of

discovering, among other things, a passage by

water to the Pacific Ocean. Although a viable

water route was not to be found, the expedition

was successful on many fronts and the journey

made Lewis and Clark national heroes.

An interesting aspect to the expedition is

the shared leadership between Lewis and Clark. In

every way they were equals to those they led,

those they met along the way, and to the crowds

that greeted them upon their return. However, in

addition to Lewis, there were at least two people

who understood the true nature of their co-

leadership—only one, Lewis, was ultimately

accountable.

The first person with the true understanding

was President Jefferson. At some point after the

expedition Lewis stood before Jefferson to give an

account of his leadership and the successes and

failures of the journey. Lewis would never be able

to say, “It was Clark’s fault.” Jefferson had the

authority to dole out reward or sanction based on

Lewis’s conduct. The second person who

understood the true nature of the co-leadership

relationship was Clark. He understood that Lewis was

ultimately accountable for the trip. In other words,

Lewis would have to stand before Jefferson to

account for the success and failures of Clark as well

as his own. One can imagine Clark’s internal thought

process including questioning if what he was about to

do would somehow reflect poorly upon Lewis. By the

historical accounts, Clark performed his role

admirably.

The co-leadership of Lewis and Clark offers an

intriguing illustration applicable to many

relationships, i.e., employee-employer,

congregation-pastor, child-parent but perhaps it best

illustrates the husband-wife-God relationship.

The question of a wife’s submission

(Ephesians 5) often comes up during pre-marital or

marital counseling. The question itself may come

masked in many variations but generally the root

question is “who’s in charge?” This is the wrong

question. The correct question is “who’s ultimately

accountable?”

A well-functioning marriage should give the

appearance of a “co-leadership” relationship where

both are able to lead well because both understand the

true nature of the relationship. A Godly wife

understands that her husband will one day stand

before God to give an account of his leadership. She

would never desire her conduct to dishonor her

husband before God. A Godly husband understands

his leadership responsibilities within his family and

that he will ultimately be held accountable to God for

his family’s spiritual, moral, and character

development. He will answer for the tone of the

family’s Godly qualities of love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and

self-control.

Lewis and Clark were successful on their

journey of exploration because each had a firm

understanding of ultimate accountability. Husbands

4 SALT Meeting

10 D.A.C. Team Meeting

13&14 Disaster Relief Training

14 SALT II

14&15 Beyond Measure Emphasis Celebration Weekend

18 Finance Committee Meeting

28 Rebuilding Together Ingham County

April at Cedar Street ChurchApril at Cedar Street ChurchApril at Cedar Street ChurchApril at Cedar Street Church

2012

May 13 Mother’s Day

28 Memorial Day

June 17 Father’s Day

18-22 “Metamorphosis” Youth Camp

19&20 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA

24 Baptisms at Valhalla Park

25-29 MAXCamp #1

July 4 Independence Day

13 CSC Night at Spartan Speedway

23-27 “Quest” Camp

30-3 MAXCamp #2

August 29 Worship on the Lawn and Baptisms

September 1/2 Sunday School Promotion Weekend

October 31 “Happy Night” Party

In The Months to ComeIn The Months to ComeIn The Months to ComeIn The Months to Come

31/1 “Nine”

7/8 "Get up, Little Girl"

14/15 "A Cause to Celebrate"

21/22 “A Scandalous Faith: Part One“

28/29 “A Scandalous Faith: Part Two”

April Sermon ScheduleApril Sermon ScheduleApril Sermon ScheduleApril Sermon Schedule

“If Obamacare is upheld, it fundamentally changes the nature of the American social contract. It means the effective end of a government of enumerated powers—i.e., finite, delineated powers beyond which the government may not go, beyond which lies the free realm of the people and their voluntary institutions. The new post-Obamacare dispensation is a central government of unlimited power from which citizen and civil society struggle to carve out and maintain spheres of autonomy… “All institutions—excepting only Churches, but not excepting Church-run charities, hospitals, etc.—will be required to offer health care that must include free contraception, sterilization, and drugs that cause abortion…Contraception, sterilization, and abortion pills are classified as medical prevention. On whose authority? The secretary of health and human services, invoking the Institute of Medicine. But surely categorizing pregnancy as a disease equivalent

is a value decision, disguised as scientific. If contraception is prevention, what are fertility clinics? Disease inducers? And if contraception is prevention because it lessens morbidity and saves money, by that logic, mass sterilization would be the greatest boon to public health since the pasteurization of milk… “’Religious’ exemptions to this edict extend only to Churches, places where the faithful worship God, and not to Church-run hospitals and charities, places where the faithful do God's work… “Rarely has one law so exemplified the worst of the Leviathan state—grotesque cost, questionable constitutionality, and arbitrary bureaucratic coerciveness.”

Charles Krauthammer, “Confluence of events place Obamacare debate at the center of the political stage,” Detroit News, March 28, 2012

We’re trying something new this year. Instead of meeting for a picnic right after Worship on Sunday morning, we’re planning to meet Sunday evening, June 24 for our Annual Valhalla Get-Together. We’re trying this to see if we like it better and/or if it just works better.

So make plans to join us at 6:00 P.M. on the 24th as we’ll eat some watermelon, sing and Worship the Lord, then head to the waterside to baptize new believers. Mark your calendars!

For the sake of the Kingdom of God and to make a difference in the lives of people, we’re teaming up with Rebuilding Together Ingham County to make a difference in the well-being of a family in our neighborhood-we just don’t know which one yet! Along with doing kind service, we’ll find opportunities to tell the story of God’s love in Jesus Christ.

RTIC describes itself as: “a volunteer organization involved in a year-long effort that culminates in a one-day blitz to repair and rehabilitate the homes of either low-income elderly or disabled homeowners. It is non-partisan, non-sectarian, non-profit and staffed by volunteers. It is part of a national network and effort to assist homeowners in need.”

Chad Buck, Dave Taylor, and Dave Warner are going to lead our efforts to serve God by serving others. Chad is doing all the “leg work” to get things prepared and the Daves have signed on to be our Work Coordinators. They make a good team.

The key date is Saturday, April 28-mark all your calendars now. It’s a one-day event into which we can pour our hearts for the sake of families in need.

Like it or not, summer is right around the corner. Those long, hot days that make us long for the brisk, refreshing, winter air will be here soon. So...it's time for a reminder to our Cedar Street Family of

For those who are new to Cedar Street Church, let me explain this emphasis. We want to be a "user friendly" Church. Since we know that it can be uncomfortable, or even intimidating to go to a Church for the first time, we want to do all we can to make it as easy as possible for our guests. Here's some of what that means...we want our guests to park where it's most convenient. Please park a little farther away than you are accustomed to doing. If everyone does that, we’ll be leaving better parking places for the newcomers God sends us. The most convenient chairs (near the back of the Worship Center, on the aisles, and near the entrance doors) need to be available for newcomers. Our love for Jesus should compel us to serve our guests by saving the seats they prefer for them. Everyone at Cedar Street is a “greeter” so let’s be ready to answer questions and escort guests to Sunday School and/or the Worship Center. That would suggest that we remembered to treat people as honored guests. Before being seated or greeting our regular friends, let’s look around to see who might need direction or just a warm welcome. It’s especially important to keep this in mind for all the guests God will send us to see and hear the Gospel on Resurrection Weekend. Let’s do it, Church!

Pastor Bob

Wow, Church! I am rejoicing at the initial responses we’ve received to the call for Covenant Commitments to get your Church out of debt. The sight of God’s people walking to the platform to put their Covenant Cards in the baskets was moving. How you blessed me.

We announced on “First Fruits” Weekend (March 24/25) that we received one hundred eighteen cards that totaled $579,981.00 in the first week of receiving commitments! Only God knows where we’ll be when we receive cards from all the folks who told us that Cedar Street Church is their Church and were included in the Emphasis. We’ll keep you posted!

This is a fitting time to remind you who are (and thank God for) the people who served us on the BME Leadership Team. In addition to their own Covenant Commitments, these brothers and sisters invested so much time in prayer and service that we owe them a great “thanks!” They are:

Don Depoorter Emphasis Team Leader

Calvin and Sharon Williams Spiritual Team Leader

Charlie Mercer Communications Team Leader

Wes Butch Cluster Team Leader

Rhonda Brown Covenant Team Leader

Mark Dillingham Response Team Leader

Shannon Howard Support Team Leader

I’m sure at more than one time during the five months they’ve been involved in the BME they have wondered “why?” they signed-up for all that was expected of them. They, and their faithful team members, have served our Lord and His Church well and fruitfully.

I hope you’ll make a point of thanking them for such good work. We would NOT have had the success we’ve had without their hard and effective work. I am so grateful to and for them.

Make sure you keep praying for those still determining how to fill-out those cards sitting on their dinner tables. On April 14/15 we’ll wrap-up the public phase of the BME as we enjoy “Celebration Weekend.” We’ll give an up-to-date report of what we’ve heard from y’all! I’m sure we’ll be rejoicing!

1705 Cedar Street

Holt, MI 48842

(517) 699-LIFE

The Book of Revelation

Part II ~ Chapters 4,5 Teacher: Pastor Bryan

In Part II of the Book of Revelation, we shall seek to understand the

significance of John’s vision of God’s throne in heaven, the sealed Scroll, and

the slain Lamb who opened the Scroll and ransomed people from “every tribe

and language and people and nation.”

Wednesdays @ 7:00 P.M.

4 Weeks

April 4 – 25

E4 Students may take Parts 1&2 of this class and E4 Students may take Parts 1&2 of this class and E4 Students may take Parts 1&2 of this class and E4 Students may take Parts 1&2 of this class and

complete additional assignments for E4 Course Credit.complete additional assignments for E4 Course Credit.complete additional assignments for E4 Course Credit.complete additional assignments for E4 Course Credit.

Have you given your life to Jesus but have not yet been baptized? Here’s your opportunity…

When: June 24

Where: Valhalla Park

For more information or to sign-up, call Emmy at the Church office (699-LIFE).